This paper starts with an analysis of a representative Canadian naturalist animal story, Charles Roberts' "Do Seek Their Meat from God," and then passes to a discussion of two more short stories in order to demonstrate that in the modern Canadian narrative discourse animal images usually work as symbols. For example, in Margaret Laurence's "The Loons" the bird images in the title appear as a symbol of a character's state of mind and fate, while in Guy Vanderhaeghe's "Dancing Bear" the bear image illuminates the protagonist with a feeling of brotherhood with all God's creatures. This makes him experience a strong psychological identification with the bear, which thus becomes a symbol of his humiliated dignity and pride, before finally becoming a metaphor of death.

[6] Roberts, Charles G.D. " Do Seek Their Meat from God", The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories. Ed. Margaret Atwood and Robert Weaver. Toronto, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, 19-23.